Media houses apologise for revealing Kathua victim's identity

Agencies
April 18, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 18: Media houses, issued notices for revealing the identity of the eight-year-old Kathua rape victim, on Wednesday apologised before the Delhi High Court and were directed to pay Rs 10 lakh each to the Jammu and Kashmir Victim Compensation Fund.

Advocates representing media houses told the court that the mistake of revealing the identity of the victim was due to their ignorance of the law and a misconception that they could name her as she was dead.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar directed that the compensation amount be deposited with the registrar general of the high court within a week and the money be transferred to the Jammu and Kashmir legal service authority's account to be used for Jammu and Kashmir's victim compensation scheme.

The bench also directed that wide and continuous publicity be given to the statutory provisions of law regarding privacy of victims of sexual offences and punishment for revealing their identities.

Section 23 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) law lays down the procedure for the media to report cases of sexual offences against child victims and Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) deals with disclosure of identity of victims of such offences. The penal law provides for jail term of two years with a fine.

On April 13, the high court issued notices to 12 media houses for disclosing the identity of an eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and killed in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Of the 12, counsel for nine media houses were present in the court on Wednesday.

The court had earlier prohibited them "from effecting any publication, including the name, address, photograph, family details, school details, neighbourhood or any other particulars which may have an effect of leading to the disclosure of the identity of the child victim".

In its news reports in connection with the case, The Press Trust of India has not disclosed the name or put out a photograph of the victim.

The eight-year-old from a minority nomadic community had disappeared from near her home in a village near Kathua in Jammu region on January 10.

Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The state police's Crime Branch, which probed the case, filed a main charge sheet against seven people and a separate charge sheet against a juvenile in a court in Kathua district last week.

The charge sheet revealed chilling details about how the girl was kidnapped, drugged and raped inside a place of worship before being killed.

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News Network
January 18,2020

Mumbai, Jan 18: Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Friday said shops, restaurants, malls and pubs will remain open 24 hours on an experimental basis in a few areas of Mumbai from January 26.

The areas where these establishments will remain open all night are Fort and Kala Ghoda in south Mumbai and Bandra Kurla Complex in the west.

Thackeray had batted for all-night-open eateries and other establishments in the city during the earlier BJP-Shiv Sena regime too.

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News Network
March 27,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 27: Kerala Police social media team is using innovative methods to get people engaged in the home during the lockdown period. From conversing with people to giving them suggestions of must watch movies and sharing links of e-books Kerala police have become new 'chat friend' of people in the state.
"The traditional method of policing of interacting with people is not possible due to social distancing, so Kerala police is using the digital platform to reach out to people," Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Head Quarters Manoj Abraham, who is heading the social media wing told ANI.
"We used social media and tried to be different at the same time innovative. From creating awareness to taking precautions we through various videos like police dance, coronavirus animations etc reached out to people. We used film stars also and used local dialect. It has got good reach and public acceptance. The most important aspect is that they received the underlying message well and are staying home" he added.
Abraham also said that Social Media team of Kerala Police is also fighting the fake news and rumours being spread at the COVID- 19 times.
"Some people were misusing social media by spreading wrong information. We also went behind those who tried to sell medicines saying it is good against Coronavirus. We crushed them with an iron hand - registered cases and arrested them. We send a strong message in social media that no rumour-mongering will be allowed, " he said.
He said the Kerala Police realised that people staying indoors was one of the keys to winning the fight against COVID-19.
"We started a chat box with the public. People were in their houses and they used the time to chat with police on various aspects of lockdown. We provided them with the right information, " he said.
The social media team has prepared a list of e-books that can be downloaded and also has a list of must watch movies. Not only that the team also occasionally share jokes with people during chat sessions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease.

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News Network
March 21,2020

New Delhi, Mar 21: A couple was deboarded from a Delhi-bound Rajdhani train on Saturday after co-passengers observed a home quarantine seal on the husband's hand, the Railways said Saturday.

Officials said the Delhi-based couple boarded the Bangalore City-New Delhi Rajdhani at Secunderabad on Saturday morning.

When the train reached Kazipet in Telangana at 9:45 am, a co-passenger noticed the quarantine mark authorities are putting on suspected coronavirus cases —on the husband's hand when he was washing his hands. Other co-passengers then informed the TTE onboard.

The train was briefly detained and the couple was taken to a hospital. The coach was completely sanitised in Kazipet and was locked, officials said.

The air conditioning was also switched off.

The train left for its destination at 11.30 am.

People fleeing quarantine has been a common problem reported from different parts of the country.

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